Quinn Packaging has begun making black plastic food trays that are fully identifiable in recycling sorting systems, reducing the amount of black plastic going to landfill.
The new Detecta by Quinn range of black PET trays address long standing recyclability issues, and could provide the first possibility of a circular economy for black plastic packaging.
Standard black PET trays are currently being manufactured using a carbon black colour additive, which absorb near infrared beams, making them essentially invisible to recycling sorting machines.
The Detecta by Quinn range has a unique black colour additive that is easily identified by NIR sorting technology, meaning black trays can now be recycled.
Quinn Packaging partnered with TOMRA to undertake extensive trials to prove the performance in challenging sorting environments.
Steve Walsh, UK Sales Manager at TOMRA, said: “We are delighted to have recently hosted Quinn Packaging at our Test Centre in Germany, where we conducted extensive trails using the TOMRA Auto-Sort across all sorting situations. The results speak for themselves, the Detecta by Quinn trays proved to be fully identifiable in all respects.”
During the development process, Quinn Packaging was focused not only on providing the market with a detectable black PET tray that could be easily recycled, but also on producing a PET tray that was competitively priced yet still blended with over 90 per cent recycled material.
Thomas McCaffrey, New Product Development Manager at Quinn Packaging, said: “In the last 12 months we have seen a growing desire within the food sector to move away from black coloured packaging. For Quinn Packaging this was short-sighted. If we are serious about moving towards a true circular economy, where food trays are recycled back into food trays, then the ultimate packaging colour to achieve this is black.”
“The new Detecta by Quinn range overcomes the issue of identifying and sorting black PET trays for recycling, and will hopefully help the industry to move towards a true circular economy.”